The Lure of Gold: An Artistic and Cultural History
When Hesiod, the Greek poet of the eighth century B.C., recounted the history of the world as he understood it, he described the legendary first generation of mortal men, who lived in peace and ease, as the "people of gold." Nearly three millennia later, we still refer to a particularly happy or prosperous era as a "golden age." The reason Hesiod's metaphor translates so perfectly into our own idiom is that the mystique of gold, the quintessential precious metal, is truly universal. The very...
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The dazzlingly illustrated story of how the world's most beautiful element has influenced the art, economy, and society of every civilization.
IntroductionI. The Bronze Age and Early Advanced Civilizations1. The Discovery of the "Sun Metal" in Prehistoric and Early Historical Times2. Egypt: The Gold of the Pharaohs and Gods3. Self-presentation and Divine Rites: The Gold Cultures of the Ancient Near East4. Minoan Joie de Vivre and the Mycenaean Cult of RulersII. Europe in the First Millennium5. Greece Influences an Age beyond Its Borders6. The Mysterious Celts and Their Fascination with Gold7. The Etruscans: Artists and Connoisseurs8. Rome: From the Modesty of the Republic to the Splendor of the EmpireIII. Great Non-European Cultures9. Gold in the Islamic World: Between Moderation and Opulence10. Gold for Buddha, Kings, and Emperors: Temples, Pagodas, and Insignia of Asia11. The Discovery of the New World: The Legend of Eldorado12. The Gleam on the Gold Coast: The Wealth of African RulersIV. The Western World from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century13. Treasures of the Age of Migrations and the Early Middle Ages14. Byzantium: The Gold-Glittering Bastion of Christianity15. The Metaphysics of Light and the Demonstration of Power: Gold in the High and Late Middle Ages16. The Metal of Artists, Alchemists, and Kings: The Renaissance, the Baroque, and Classicism17. Gold in the Modern AgeBibliography Index
